there was some hype on him recently coz he's white. he did a fun record called England Story on the sleng teng riddim, it has the same melody as Baby cham's hit Ghetto Story so that helped it be a hit as well as the novelty of him chatting about mid eighties sound systems. I like the tune. He's from Bristol I think- or Coventry maybe

Listen to my A Scorcha from Stephen T Reggae show on Wednesdays 6.00-8.00 on www.purple-radio.co.uk and for rare soul check Sunday Soul Soup 12-2pm

YT comes outta Ipswich , East England repping.....growing up listening to local band Jah Warriors (who had a solid lp on Vista and later, weaker one with a purple cover) rehearsals ,and if my memory serves me right practicing to Great British MC's LP's or Saxons Coughing Up Fire LP.
Big talent and a very humble guy according to my brothers who linked him earlier this year. A friend had him and Errol Bellot on the mike at night he put on, chatting over all sorts of music and from the reports YT was tuff but Errol showed his veteran stripes and was giving YT sum serious pressure.good to see fresh uk talent and he's been mashing up shows all over and has started something of a uk mc revival.
nice little roots tune about the terroist bombings 'wicked act' from him earlier this year caused a big stir, maybe evn topping the reaggae charts??

I wouldn't say the hype was on YT cos he is white. He has been at this for years and has a lot of talent with clear flow and delivery and more intelligent lyrics than most. He had a very successful 2006 - with England Story on 85 and sleng teng riddims doing big things - also wicked act on a tuff original riddim from Innerheart outta Ipswich.
The album 'straight outta britain' comes reccommended - still selling well after four months.

Not up on downloads - will the dubplates mixes be available to buy on CD, Rootsman?

we know that he is good and has been interested in reggae and learning to dj for a longh time, but do you think that the intense media interest on him was helped by his colour? I have the feeling it was but who cares anyway right, it's all gravy

Listen to my A Scorcha from Stephen T Reggae show on Wednesdays 6.00-8.00 on www.purple-radio.co.uk and for rare soul check Sunday Soul Soup 12-2pm

I take your point Stephen. I know YT reasonably well and have followed his progress closely over the past few years - this is probably why I felt the need to stick up for him.
It seems to me that the real breakthrough came when he set up (with others) the Sativa label and was able to get his tunes out to a wider audience. This in turn led to him getting some backing from Creation Records imprint Hiptones who helped promote his album on a level more associated with the majors.
I'm sure there is some 'novelty'value and therefore media interest in the idea of a white guy from Ipswich singing reggae and MCing in patois - how this came to be always seems to be the first question he gets asked.
But there also appears to have been a real lack of quality reggae MCs emerging from the UK in recent years and this has also helped to make him stand out.

Reggie Love wrote:But there also appears to have been a real lack of quality reggae MCs emerging from the UK in recent years and this has also helped to make him stand out.

very true. I guess I was reminded of the DJs like Dominc, Snow, Apache Indian, Cheshire Cat who all got a bit of media interest because of their colour making them more unusual, even though they were all ok- in fact the last two were good on tapes anyway

Well I hope YT keeps it up in 2007, I certainly enjoy England Story and the Rootsman special of it

Listen to my A Scorcha from Stephen T Reggae show on Wednesdays 6.00-8.00 on www.purple-radio.co.uk and for rare soul check Sunday Soul Soup 12-2pm